Ecuador - The IOM Migration Profile for Ecuador, published today in Quito, highlights four fundamental characteristics that have marked the last ten years: a deceleration of the outflow of Ecuadorians, a moderate increase in immigration, a significant rise in forced migration, and an increasing tendency for return migration.

The Profile explains that the decrease in the number of Ecuadorians leaving the country is primarily concentrated in the flows to Europe, and can be attributed to the need for a Schengen visa for Ecuadorian citizens, and the financial crisis that began in 2008 which resulted in massive unemployment in Spain, the main destination country for Ecuadorian migrants. 

Ecuadorians began migrating to Canada, the United States and Venezuela in the 1970s.  In the 1980s the vast majority migrated to the United States.  It was not until the end of the 1990s that Ecuadorians began migrating to Europe, mainly Spain and Italy.  According to Spanish Government figures, the number of Ecuadorian migrants rose from 3,972 in 1998 to over 480,000 in 2011.

US Census data also show a dramatic increase in the number of Ecuadorians in the country.  Between the 2000 and the 2010 Census, the Ecuadorian population grew from 260,559 to 564,631.  The vast majority have settled in the US States of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. 

Between 1999 and 2005, an estimated 1.4 to 1.6 million persons left the country.  In 2011, the National Secretariat for Migration reported between two and three millions nationals living abroad. 

The Profile points out that for every four migrants who left the country from 2001-2010, one has returned home. It is expected that the number of returnees will continue to climb as a result of the economic crisis in the main countries of destination (Spain, Italy and the US).

Remittances continue to be a vital lifeline for families left behind.  Ecuadorian nationals abroad sent USD 3.1 billion in 2007.  Due to unemployment in countries of destination, the amount of remitted in 2011 decreased to USD 2.7 billion.

Immigration flows continue to be primarily cross-border, from Peru and Colombia.  The Profile also reports a slight increase in the number of persons arriving from countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere on the continent.  These arrivals coincide with the open border policies implemented by the current government, which removed the visa requirement for all nationalities in January 2008.  The requirement was reinstated in September 2010 for citizens of nine countries in Asia and Africa.

An important characteristic, and according to the Profile the most relevant phenomenon in the country in the last decade, has been the continued arrival of forced migration from Colombia.

Before 2001, immigration to Ecuador was very low when compared to the number of nationals emigrating.  It was in 2001 when the country became a country of destination, especially for Colombians fleeing the violence in their country and searching for international protection. Official figures confirm the arrival of some 200,000 Colombians in the past ten years.

At the end of 2011, a total of 55,092 persons had received refugee status; 98 per cent of them Colombians.  Between 2001 and 2011, official data reported a total of 148,000 refugees and asylum applicants.  In 2007, UNHCR estimated some 170,000 persons were in need of international protection.

“As a country of origin and destination of migrants, and the largest recipient of persons in search of international protection and asylum seekers in Latin America, the IOM Migration Profile for Ecuador is a powerful tool for analysis, discussion and policy formulation, for government and civil society, to address the country’s migration realities; including migrants present in Ecuador and its nationals living abroad,” explained Rogelio Bernal, IOM Chief of Mission in Ecuador at today’s launch of the IOM Migration Profile.

The exponential growth of emigration at the end of the Twentieth Century shook the Ecuadorian State, bringing migration related issues into the public sphere and making the issue a priority. 

In the past decade, the State, working with civil society organizations, created the National Migration Secretariat in 2007, and formally recognized the rights of migrants in the 2008 Constitution.  Those initiatives demonstrated the political will to bring migration policy to the forefront and recognized migrants as relevant stakeholders, by acknowledging their contributions to national development, and as political actors, through absentee voting and reserving six seats in the National Assembly for the diaspora.

But the Profile underscores a continued lack of long-term public policies, as well as procedures for mainstreaming the rights, needs and demands of migrants in the country.

Other recommendations include: increased involvement of the diaspora; the design and implementation of integration policies to benefit migrants and returning nationals; the creation of migration management policies, as well as development and social protection policies to enhance the benefits of human mobility.

This updated Migration Profile for Ecuador, which was first published in 2008, is part of the EU-funded project “Strengthening the Dialogue and Cooperation Between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean to Establish Management Models on Migration and Development Policy”.

Other IOM Migration Profiles in the Western Hemisphere include: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The IOM Migration Profiles for Ecuador (2011 and 2008) are available in Spanish at the following links: 
http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/media/docs/reports/Migration-Profile-Ecuador-2011.pdf
http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41_42&products_id=509

For more information, please contact 

Jaime Paredes
IOM Ecuador
Tel:  +593 2 2226-304
Mobile: +593 9 3597322
Email: jparedes@iom.int